Sen. Schumer urges support for crackdown on ticket scalpers

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Sen. Schumer urges support for crackdown on ticket scalpers

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ALBANY, N.Y. — Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a federal crackdown on ticket scalpers using computer programs to jack up the prices of popular Broadway shows, concerts and sporting events, urging support for legislation he introduced to restrict them.

The New York Democrat, citing support from Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Broadway’s “Hamilton,” says cyber scalpers have been using the programs, known as “bots,” to buy and resell tickets to that play anywhere from $500 to more than $2,000 a ticket.

He says that compares to a normal price of about $189.

Schumer says bots have gotten “completely out of control” and can purchase thousands of tickets in fractions of a second.